San Francisco  - Global revenue for the PC industry is to fall 5.3 per cent next year, research firm IDC said Wednesday. It would be the first drop in global PC revenue since 2001.

The prediction was a dramatic revision of the company's previous forecast, which envisioned a 4.5 per cent increase in revenues on a 13.7 per cent growth in unit shipments.

Under the new forecast, the total number of units would rise just 3.8 per cent as consumers and businesses cut back spending in the face of the global recession.

The company cited slowing demand in emerging markets in Latin America, Central Europe and the Middle East and Africa - which had previously been among the fastest growing regions - as one of the key factors in the global PC pullback.

This year the number of units shipped is expected to rise 12.4 per cent, with most of the growth coming in demand for laptop computers, IDC said.

Laptops will also show healthy growth next year, growing 13.8 per cent to 145.9 million units, but sales of desktops computers and servers will fall 6.7 per cent. (dpa)